Select Local Merchants

It’s not uncommon to witness Lisa Clark and the Suburban Gypsies belly-dance troupe on stage at a local festival or fair, swaying their hips to Middle Eastern music in flowing white dresses. In addition to frequently working in the public spotlight, Lisa brings her years of practice and experience to the classroom, where she conducts belly-dancing classes for women of all experience levels and athletic abilities. Amid the lofty mirrors of her private studio, Lisa and her instructors guide students through shimmies, graceful belly rolls, and flowing arm movements. During advanced classes, they introduce students to more complex steps and choreographed routines, enlisting many students to join the performance troupe after mastering the movements. Of course, they never exert any pressure—they understand that some prefer to save belly-dancing performances for the privacy of their own home.

Two pools, a 5,200-square-foot studio packed with workout equipment, and a full gymnasium with an indoor track are just a small portion of what Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center has to offer. The vast complex also hosts regular fitness classes, which range from gentle yoga to total conditioning. At the competition and leisure pools, groups can be found paddling their way through swimming classes, which teach important skills such as how to grow scales.

UFC Gym's staff features a team of professional fighters who come from backgrounds as boxers, mix martial artists, professional Muy Thai fighters, and Bruce Banners at its many area locations.The proprietary style of the UFC Gym workout is a mixture of genuine fight training and engaging fitness routines, designed to help clients use fitness techniques to reach their health goals. Clients can burn 800 to 1,000 calories during these total-body routines, which combine external inspiration and jukes, jabs, and kicks that the instructors demonstrate as students practice techniques on 150-pound punching bags. The facility includes a regulation-sized boxing ring, quarter octagon, full weight room, cardio equipment, and showers for both men and women. Session sizes are kept small, ensuring personal attention and manageable battle-royale numbers.
Like UFC Gym, the boxing arena is no slouch when it comes to fitness: fight-centric gyms ditch the polished look of wood-floored workout studios for gritty, competitive spaces filled with 150-pound punching bags and intense workouts. Like a baker molding gingerbread men, UFC Gym sculpts six-packs with boxing, kickboxing, and mixed-martial-arts classes, and additionally, most experience boosted self-confidence after conquering their first class. Private training sessions further stoke courage with workouts that leave patrons with the exhilaration of having survived 12 rounds in the ring or five minutes in a high-school lunchroom.

The world is a playground, according to the stunt artists and gymnasts who helm Urban Evolution. At this CNN- and Channel 11 WBAL -featured gym, there are no treadmills or stationary bikes. Instead, dance-like movements and acrobatic leaps propel visitors toward apexes of fun and fitness. To ready physiques for such feats, ropes, trapezes, and gymnastics equipment facilitate body-weight exercises that build balance, flexibility, and coordination. Seasoned instructors oversee the training space, teaching students how to jump, climb, crawl, and tumble as safely as possible during movement-focused classes such as Parkour, Free Running, and Aerial Acrobatics. Kettlebells and other functional strength-training tools power UrbanFit conditioning workouts, which give participants the brawn to perform everyday tasks such as pushing lawnmowers, lifting grocery bags, and drawing sleighs filled with lazy reindeer.